About

RickB- Human, Artist, Fool.

Ynys Mon, UK.

The blog is called ten percent because of what Kurt Vonnegut wrote when remembering Susan Sontag - She was asked what she had learned from the Holocaust, and she said that 10 percent of any population is cruel, no matter what, and that 10 percent is merciful, no matter what, and that the remaining 80 percent could be moved in either direction.-

And I'm writing it because I need the therapy and I lust for world domination.

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I’ve just received some bad news – the BNP have just won a seat in the European Parliament. It is terrible news for our country.

While the BNP will take a seat in Brussels they will not represent me – they are not going there in my name.

I’ve just launched a petition saying just that: BNP – not in my name. We will deliver this petition to the European Parliament on the first day that their MEP takes their seat. I’d like you to sign the petition as well – let’s show the rest of the EU what we think of this new MEP:http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/notinmyname

I am disgusted that the BNP have at least one MEP.

We will deliver our petition to the European Parliament – I want you to add your name and then get your friends to join in as well.

I just sent my email to Clear Channel Sales Dept. now add yours Click Here

The BNP’s message of hate is being spread across the country by a small but dedicated band of racist activists.

But now, a commercial media organisation is seeking to financially profit from the BNP’s vicious campaign. Clear Channel – one of the UK’s largest poster and billboard companies – have sold the BNP adverts across the country.

They have provided the BNP with high profile sites – putting the BNP’s racist message on a pedestal and giving them the oxygen of publicity. In a matter of days these billboards and posters will be spreading across the country. But we can stop them if enough of us complain to Clear Channel and we get them to cancel their contract.

We have set an easy-to-use page so you can send a letter of complaint – will you send them a message of complaint?

The Torture Victims Relief Act (TVRA), HR-1511, first passed in 1998, authorizes funding to support torture treatment programs in the U.S. and abroad. With the continued practice of torture in over 100 countries, and the recent surge in political will to denounce torture, it is a crucial time for the U.S. to reaffirm its commitment to treatment for torture victims, both at home and oveseas.

American centers have been reporting increasing numbers of asylum seekers in need of services, and the U.S. has recently committed to resettle an increased number of Iraqi refugees over the next few years (though still a pittance, compared to the millions displaced by the Iraq war and occupation). The recession has made things extremely difficult for these new refugees. It has also seriously impacted victim rehab centers in the U.S. and overseas, with cutbacks in staff and services, and, in some cases, closing their doors.

The bill has been referred to the House Foreign Affairs and House Energy and Commerce committees. Please call your Congressperson and ask them to reauthorize TVRA in 2009 and appropriate the funds at authorized levels. You will be doing something concrete to help those tortured abroad who, despite the torture scandal that envelops this country right now, have come to the U.S. seeking refuge and safety from oppression and torture in countries as diverse as Guatemala, Philippines, Bosnia, Russia, Ethiopia, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Burma (Mynamar), Yemen, and many, many more.

Albaghdadia, the TV channel where the Iraqi Journalist Montather Al-Zeidi works, reports that an Iraqi MP (Ms. Zainab Al-Kanani) informed them that Montather’s hand was broken in jail. This confirms a lot of reports and rumors about Montather being subject to torture while the Iraqi authorities are interrogating and detaining him in some unspecified location.

This is about making enough of a publicity/fuss they will not get away with more and a mooted 7 year sentence. And in the end this guy threw his shoes, Bush remains at large un-indicted for any of his numerous crimes, how the hell do you explain that logic without the human race coming off like total fucking idiots- Yeah well mass murder is fine, it’s airborne footwear we have to crack down on.

Embarrasing.

NYT- While he has not been formally charged, Iraqi officials said he faced up to seven years in prison if convicted of committing an act of aggression against a visiting head of state.

The incident has been a source of embarrassment for the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who, in a statement on Monday, called the shoe throwing a “a shameful savage act” and demanded a public apology from Al-Baghdadia.

Today it is critical that you make your voice heard in the Ramsey County Attorney and St. Paul City Attorney offices. Demand that they drop all pending and current charges against journalists arrested while reporting on protests outside the Republican National Conventions.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s office is in the process of deciding whether or not to press felony P.C. (probable cause) riot charges against Democracy Now! Producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. Please contact Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner by all means possible to demand that her office not press charges against Kouddous and Salazar.

The St. Paul City Attorney’s office has already charged Amy Goodman with misdemeanor obstruction of a legal process and interference with a peace officer. Contact St. Paul City Attorney John Choi by all means possible to demand that the charges against Goodman be dropped immediately.

Goodman was arrested while questioning police about the unlawful detention of Kouddous and Salazar who were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention.

During the demonstration in which the Democracy Now! team was arrested, law enforcement officers used pepper spray, rubber bullets, concussion grenades and excessive force against protesters and journalists. Several dozen demonstrators were also arrested during this action, as was a photographer for the Associated Press.

IMPORTANT

Be sure to cc: dropthecharges@democracynow.org on all emails so that our team can deliver print outs of your messages to the St. Paul City Attorney and Ramsey County Attorney offices.

Call your member of Congress and ask him or her not to support a blockade on Iran.

Congress is considering this bill at this very moment; now is the time to act to oppose this plan for war. Groups from all over the country are joining together for a national call-in day on H.Con.Res. 362.

This resolution demands that the president initiate an international effort to impose a land, sea, and air blockade on Iran to stop shipments of gasoline, and to subject all cargo entering or leaving Iran to stringent inspection requirements.

Call your representative and ask him or her to oppose the blockade resolution.

Imposing a blockade without United Nations authorization (which the resolution does not call for) would be considered an act of war. Though a vote on this bill has been successfully delayed so far, some Congressional sources say the House could vote on it as early as next week. They need to hear from you before the vote.

Adoption of this resolution would pave the way for war and bypass diplomacy. The immediate effect would be a further increase in oil prices – with gas prices in the US inching closer to $7/gallon and beyond.

After the Nottingham witch-hunt the authorities are trying to spare their blushes by deporting Hicham Yezza. This is a very old phenomenon in policing, if you put a lot of resources into an operation and come up with nothing careers are in jeopardy, but if you can fiddle some kind of ‘result’ in this case the spurious arrests of Yezza and attempt to fast track deport him then something can be salvaged and asses get covered.

Hicham Yezza, a popular, respected and valued former PhD student and current employee of the University of Nottingham faces deportation to Algeria on Sunday 1st June. This follows his unjust arrest under the Terrorism Act 2000 on Wednesday 14th May alongside Rizwaan Sabir and their release without charge six days later.

It has subsequently become clear that these arrests, which the police had claimed related to so-called “radical materials” involved an Al Qaeda manual downloaded by Sabir as part of his research into political Islam and emailed to Yezza for printing because Sabir couldn’t afford to get it printed himself.

There has been a vocal response from lecturers and students. A petition is being circulated, letters have been sent by academics across the world and a demo is being planned for Wednesday. 28th May. This has clearly been deeply embarrassing to a government currently advocating an expansion of anti-terror powers.

On his release Hicham was re-arrested under immigration legislation and, due to confusion over his visa documentation, charged with offences relating to his immigration status. He sought legal advice and representation over these matters whilst in custody. On Friday 23rd May, he was suddenly served with a deportation notice and moved to an immigration detention centre. The deportation is being urgently appealed.

Hicham has been resident in the U.K. for 13 years, during which time he has studied for both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Nottingham. He is an active member of debating societies, a prominent member of an arts and theatre group, and has written for, and edited, Ceasefire, the Nottingham Student Peace Movement magazine for the last five years.

He is well known and popular on campus amongst the university community and has established himself as a voracious reader and an authority on literature and music. An application for British citizenship was underway, and he had been planning to make his yearly trip to Wales for the Hay Festival when he was suddenly arrested.

The authorities are clearly trying to circumvent the criminal justice system and force Hicham out of the country. Normally they would have to wait for criminal proceedings to finish, but here they have managed to convince the prosecution to drop the charges in an attempt to remove him a quick, covert manner. The desire for justice is clearly not the driving force behind this, as Hicham was happy to stand trial and prove his innocence.

Hicham had a large social network and many of his friends are mobilising to prevent his release. Matthew Butcher, 20, a student at the University of Nottingham and member of the 2008-9 Students Union Executive, said, “This is an abhorrent abuse of due process, pursued by a government currently seeking to expand anti-terror powers. Following the debacle of the initial ‘terror’ arrests they now want to brush the whole affair under the carpet by deporting Hicham.”

Supporters have been able to talk with Hicham and he said, “The Home Office operates with a Gestapo mentality. They have no respect for human dignity and human life. They treat foreign nationals as disposable goods – the recklessness and the cavalier approach they have belongs to a totalitarian state. I thank everyone for their support – it’s been extremely heartening and humbling. I’m grateful to everyone who has come to my aid and stood with me in solidarity, from students to Members of Parliament. I think this really reflects the spirit of the generous, inclusive Britain we know – and not the faceless, brutal, draconian tactics of the Home Office.”

There is also the risk that because of the circumstances surrounding the attempted deportation the Algerian authorities could torture Yezza-

Algerian law does not provide sufficient safeguards to protect detainees from torture and other ill-treatment. Moreover, the safeguards set in law are, in practice, disregarded when persons are arrested and detained on suspicion of links with terrorism. Such suspects are routinely held by the DRS incommunicado and in secret places of detention.

The most frequent reports of torture, as received by Amnesty International, include beatings, electric shocks, and the chiffon method, which consists in tying down a detainee and forcing him to swallow large quantities of dirty water, urine or chemicals through a cloth placed in themouth. Detainees have also reported being stripped of their clothes and humiliated, beaten on the soles of their feet (a method known as falaka), and suspended by the arms from the ceiling for prolonged periods during interrogation. In some cases, detainees allege that they were threatened that their female family members would be arrested and raped; in others, male detainees are alleged to have been sexually abused although few details are available due to the cultural sensitivity surrounding the issue of sexual violence against men in Algeria.

On 19 February 2008, at least 30 detainees at El Harrach prison in Algiers,were reported to have been beaten severely by prison guards after they and other inmates refused to return from the prison yard to the ward of the prison in which they were held in protest at the transformation of their prayer zone into accommodation for more detainees. According to the information obtained by Amnesty International, they were taken individually or in groups of two or three to a hall where they were stripped naked, kicked, punched, beaten with metal bars, insulted and threatened with sexual abuse. One inmate sustained a broken leg, another had his jaw fractured, and a third sustained an injury to his nose. The detainees were then reportedly placed in solitary confinement as punishment, were denied visits for three days and medical care. No investigation is known to have been conducted into these alleged assaults despite complaints made by lawyers for the prisoners, who were able to visit them three days later.

More details and other info as it comes. This story has had scant mention in national media, what the authorities are looking to do is spirit him out of the country to seal his lips. They will ruin his career, his life and put him in jeopardy of torture all because he…helped a friend save money by printing out a long document, incidentally such a dangerous document it is openly available on a US government website. Link here. Or fas.org/irp/world/para/manualpart1.html or cryptome.org/alq-terr-man.htm. As Lenin points out you can buy it in book form from Amazon!

Updates from Dave in comments-

There has been a massive swathe of media interest in the situation existing at Nottingham University in the wake of last week’s wrongful arrest of two innocent members of the University community.